Assessing the viability of sustainable nuclear energy development in belt and road initiative countries

Besides solar and wind energy sources for achieving sustainable energy generation, developing nuclear energy (NU) could be crucial. With recent technological improvements, NU's significance as an effective agent for improving environmental quality is enhanced. Added to the technological point of view, the impressive NU potentials of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) nations make these countries a significant region to asses NU development. Also, China has considerable technological capabilities to expand NU development in viable BRI countries. To assess the viability of BRI countries for sustainable NU development, this research presents a strategic assessment framework considering ecological and economic aspects. First, we establish a customized evaluation system based on NU features, including economic basis, electricity market, political index, social affluence, ecological metrics and NU potentials criteria. Secondly, multi-dimensional verbal distribution judgment sets were constructed to gather experts' assessment opinions. Then, we rank the BRI countries in terms of their suitability for sustainable NU development considering their experience in NU technology. Finally, sensitivity analyses are used to validate the proposed framework. The results suggest India, Indonesia, and Singapore are the top alternatives for NU development. The obtained findings can assist Chinese and BRI countries' authorities in developing win-win international cooperation.